Hey everyone! Welcome back to another week of news here on Summit in Six!

In today’s episode, we are going to cover some updates from this week’s county council meeting and the Dakota Pacific hearings. Then, we’ll wrap things up with some community engagement opportunities to keep on your radar. Let’s get into the news.

CHALK CREEK & INDUSTRIAL PARK ROAD.

In this week’s Council meeting, Council Members approved a petition request by the public to officially change the name of a section of a Summit County road from Industrial Park Road to Chalk Creek Road. Previously, the portion of Chalk Creek Road in Coalville City limits that makes a bend near the cemetery was called Industrial Park Road for approximately 630 feet, Industrial Park Road is a city-owned road that begins on the west side of the Coalville Cemetery. 

There were a few reasons for this requested name change: 

• There are no stop signs on this road from Coalville Main Street to the Wyoming border, which has caused issues and confusion with emergency response vehicles and package delivery services attempting to find Chalk Creek Road. 
  
• All of Chalk Creek is a County Road, and Industrial Park Road is a city-owned road. except for this small portion that was in line with Chalk Creek.
  

We appreciate the public bringing this issue to the county’s attention.

DAKOTA PACIFIC UPDATES

County Council resumed discussions with Dakota Pacific Real Estate, DPRE, this past Thursday, February 22 where representatives of Dakota Pacific provided a response and counter-proposal to Council’s requested changes to the development plan.

Highlights of the counter-proposal include:

• An increase from the Council-requested 500 total units to 695 total units
  
• A decrease from the total Council-requested affordable units at or below 80% AMI from 250 to 240.
  
• The number of 100-120% AMI units remained the same
  
• An increase in market rate united deed-restricted to ages 55+ from 82 to 90
  
• The addition of surface parking for apartments (compared to a parking structure)
  
• An allocation of $2.5 M in HTRZ or other public funds in exchange for moving an additional 20 market-rate apartments to affordable.
  

In addition, Dakota Pacific requested changes to the phased development schedule, which would allow them to begin building Senior Care, Medical Facilities, and up to 240 affordable units within 1 year of the signed development agreement amendment, which would allow DPRE to apply for affordable housing tax credits with the state.

In Phase 2, which begins with UDOT adding State Road 224 to the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, DPRE could build the majority of their market-rate units within 3 years.

In Phase 3, which begins with the start of construction on SR 224 (or no later than June 2029) DPRE could build their final 80 market-rate units.

After a Q&A session, individual Council members provided comments and shared concerns on the updated proposal. As a next step in the project, Council and DPRE agreed to conduct a third-party financial analysis of the proposal to be paid for by the County before further discussions, including a public hearing, are scheduled.

Please note the DPRE work session item scheduled during Council on Wednesday, February 28 has been canceled. Visit https://summitcounty.info/DPRE (all caps, case sensitive) to view the most current schedule of upcoming meetings and recordings of previous work sessions.

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH WORK-LIFE BALANCE SURVEY

The Department of Health and Human Services is working with the University of Utah on a survey about Work/Life Balance. The purpose is to gather information to help employers know what they can do to better support low- to moderate-income families to retain employment.  

Participants are paid $25 for a 25-30 minute interview that can be done over the phone. Their goal is to find 600 participants across the state.

To participate a person must be:

• A caregiver of a child under age 12, or a caregiver to a child 12 and older with a disability;
  
• Middle to low income (annual household income of $50,000 or less);
  
• English speaking
  

Visit https://bit.ly/uofuwlbs to sign up to participate!

URE RANCH OPEN HOUSE

A second information session for the community to attend and give input on the Ure Ranch property is coming up next week. Join us at the Kamas Library Building from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm on Thursday, February 29.

You may be wondering: “What’s the difference between this upcoming information session and the last one?” At the February 29th meeting there will be a short presentation by County Lands and Natural Resources Director, Jess Kirby. She will summarize the findings from the hundreds of comments received so far from the community online and in person. The presentation will dive into what a conservation easement is and what protections it provides regarding this property. 

The evening will close out with an engagement activity. If you can’t attend the presentation, you should still come for the activity and ask questions one-on-one with staff familiar with the project.

We must reiterate that no action has been taken in regard to the planning for this property. We are still in the public input stage and exploring what the community does or does not wish to see.